LED Desk Lamps Different than Older Desk Lights

Where do you go to buy new desk lights? If you need the light right away, you'll drive to a local store based on how much you want to spend. For a child's bedroom you might go to Walmart. If you're putting LED desk lamps in a living room or your home office, you might visit a lighting store. If you've got more time and like buying online, the possibilities are endless but where do you start?

Most consumers pick a lighting fixture based on how it looks, nothing more. This article began with an introduction to a new kind of product. The LittleFootprint light illustrates how we can become smarter consumers. It's about buying products made in the US (more jobs) and making decisions about the materials used in a product, like recycled content … and it's beautiful too!

Where to Find LED Desk Lamps

So I decided to look for other innovative desk lights, as more and more people are working from a home office today. And there are lots more choices today using LED lighting technology.

Here's the new BenQ desk light (shown here) that's perfect for those spending hours reading content on a monitor. The light has a beautiful design but don't get fooled. The curved light is functional too, spreading the light out to the edges of our monitors (watch this video about the design) which are only getting bigger.

What other LED desk lights are worthy of consideration?

• Recyclart.org has many lighting ideas for making your own desk lights using materials like driftwood and PVC pipe.
• You can find lots of functional LED desk lamps on Amazon, ones that offer USB charging ports and the ability to adjust the lighting from cool to warm white (illustrated below by TaoTronics).
• For more artistic desk lamps, Wayfair.com has some great choices, although I'll admit because I believe buying LED lights today is more important, there's less selection.

Before you make your final decision about your favorite desk lamp, consider what else you need to make your home office work for you.

LED Desk Lights: LittleFootprint

… By Trish Holder, Greenspiration

My feet still hurt from the back-and-forth, back-and-forth trek from the north and south halls of last week’s Greenbuild conference at the Toronto Canada convention center.  These two large exhibit halls were separated by a walk that I’m guessing is somewhere between a quarter and a half mile walk, but the walk was good exercise and I got to learn about new green living alternatives and they're gorgeous.

Despite the indoor geography, I’m still happy that I attended this year and I’m excited to share what I saw, starting with the exhibitor and product that inspired me the most: LittleFootprint^TM Lighting.

The California-based company makes just one product, the HeronLED task lamp.  The design is simple, elegant, and loaded with personality.  Clearly, as the name suggests, nature was the inspiration but the manufacturer didn’t stop there.  The construction of this birdlike lamp speaks volumes about LittleFootprint Light’s commitment to sustainability.

LED Desk Lamps Can Be Made from Recycled Parts

Here’s what makes the HeronLED and LittleFootprint Lighting the “real deal” as far as Greenspiration Home is concerned:

• It’s made in the USA.  The lamp itself is totally made in California, from injection molding to assembly of parts.  Even the LED light bulb is made in Vermont.  (FYI, finding US-made lighting of any kind is all but impossible, much less LEDs.) Only a few internal components are sourced from outside the US.
• It uses just a fraction of the energy when compared with an incandescent light.
• The LED light bulb, which should last 15 to 20 years, is easily replaceable.  It does not contain lead and can be disposed of safely and easily.
• The lamp body is made from recycled plastic materials taken from e-waste.  The recycled material is sourced from a company in Richmond, California, just a few miles from where the lamp is made.
• The lamp base is made from 70% recycled scrap metal.
• The lamp itself is recyclable.
• Even the packaging, also made in the USA, is made from 100% post-consumer recycled material.

Sustainable Yet Competitively Priced

But the real story is the pricing of this lamp, which is comparable to similar task lights you might find at Pottery Barn – which, by the way, are not LED lights and have little if anything to brag about when it comes to being green.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love Pottery Barn as much as any other woman with a space to furnish and decorate.  It’s just that this lamp combines style and sustainability at a competitive price, and that’s not easy to find.  Believe me; I’ve tried.

Finally, there aren’t any roadmaps (at least not that I am aware of) for companies looking to achieve this level of sustainability story in the manufacturing of a new product.  It’s not something that happens easily or overnight.  It takes time, money, initiative, and research. I’m sure when I talked to LittleFootprint’s CEO, Nancy Wahl-Scheurich, I only got an abbreviated story of all that went into the development of the HeronLED.  I don’t think a company sticks its neck out that far without a real passion for doing the right thing.   Sort of makes you want to buy one, doesn’t it?